NIT here we come..

[boarn]

players have come, players have gone. The results from Arkansas’s Basketball program is the same. If this were run like a business and not the emotional spin of ‘sports’, someone would be looking at the metrics. The metrics are tied to the decisions being made by the coaching staff. This is NOT a rant against the coaching staff. That said, those gentlemen make the decisions that show up in the metrics. Arkansas is consistently outrebounded, consistently give up the 3-point line, consistently do not get to the FT line, are consistently are out of position on defense and is almost always on the wrong side of the fouls called game. On the up side, Arkansas routinely wins the turnover battle.

So - add those up and come up with a reason why this team can win one hard game then turn around and lose an easier game (that, in and of itself is the most telling metric). Is it player skill? Uh … No. Is it (necessarily) coaching skill? Uh… no (but we’re getting warmer). Is it … is it the game plan (run and gun and hope you outrun the other team?) … dingdingdingding …

Coach MA - is it possible you cannot win consistently even with talent in today’s CBB with 40 MOH? The numbers - which DO not lie - say you cannot. Everyone - and as Missouri demonstrated - even 5 win teams - have athletes that get up and down the floor. 40 MOH is done. Let it go.

I think you got it right. I’ve made similar comments and share they same thought. We have no half court game…at all. Everything seems to be predicated on the run and gun. if we get pulled into a slow tempo half court game, we have terrible plays or none at all. that’s how you end up with Kingsley out near the 3 pt line chucking shots…should not happen. OkSt picked us to pieces with a high post offense, big man at the free throw line pulling out the defenders and opening slash lanes for guards and forwards. That’s a half court offense. 40 minutes of hell is gone…all players are in great shape these days so there is no advantage there anymore.

[3agle09]

After this loss, things look pretty dire, I’ll admit. We have eight conference games left. We probably will make the tournament if we win six of them, while losing to Florida and South Carolina, or if we win at least five of them and one of the wins is against South Carolina or Florida. In addition we probably should win at least one game in the SEC tournament. I don’t hold out a lot of hope that either of these scenarios will happen. Most likely we end with around ten conference wins and maybe get an NIT bid. Very disappointing. Missouri (and perhaps LSU, too) was really the one team we could not afford to lose to and still make the tournament, assuming that we aren’t likely to win at S. Carolina or at Florida. What has gone wrong? Too many turnovers, inconsistent defense and rebounding. Kingsley is not the player we expected him to be after his spectacular junior year. I’m not sure why. I keep thinking that last year’s Kingsley is about to re-appear, but he doesn’t. Barford is starting to score prolifically, but too many turnovers. Macon has been mostly great, Beard improved, Hannahs about as we’d expected, usually a scoring machine. It’s the decline of Kingsley and the lack of any consistent scoring threat at the four spot that kills us. And why do we seem to consistently play no defense in the first half?

Kingsley is the key, if he play well we win! He seems to get frustrated easily and get taken out of his game.

[sac70]

After this loss, things look pretty dire, I’ll admit. We have eight conference games left. We probably will make the tournament if we win six of them, while losing to Florida and South Carolina, or if we win at least five of them and one of the wins is against South Carolina or Florida. In addition we probably should win at least one game in the SEC tournament. I don’t hold out a lot of hope that either of these scenarios will happen. Most likely we end with around ten conference wins and maybe get an NIT bid. Very disappointing. Missouri (and perhaps LSU, too) was really the one team we could not afford to lose to and still make the tournament, assuming that we aren’t likely to win at S. Carolina or at Florida. What has gone wrong? Too many turnovers, inconsistent defense and rebounding. Kingsley is not the player we expected him to be after his spectacular junior year. I’m not sure why. I keep thinking that last year’s Kingsley is about to re-appear, but he doesn’t. Barford is starting to score prolifically, but too many turnovers. Macon has been mostly great, Beard improved, Hannahs about as we’d expected, usually a scoring machine. It’s the decline of Kingsley and the lack of any consistent scoring threat at the four spot that kills us. And why do we seem to consistently play no defense in the first half?

Kingsley is the key, if he play well we win! He seems to get frustrated easily and get taken out of his game.

Yeah, his play seems to be the difference between being mediocre or worse and being pretty good. He’s had a few good games, but all in all a mere shadow of what he was last year. Macon and Barford seem to be pretty close to as advertised, although Barford turns it over too much. If Kingsley played like the SEC player of the year we’d hoped for, we’d be in the hunt, with maybe only one or two SEC losses instead of four and an NCAA tourney lock. Disappointing.